Anna Bright and Kate Fahey celebrate a point for the St. Louis Shock at MLP Daytona Beach.
Anna Bright and Kate Fahey celebrate a point for the St. Louis Shock at MLP Daytona Beach. Major League Pickleball

Shock pick up statement win with sweep of Ranchers

The St. Louis Shock (13-1, 39pts) picked up a clean sweep of the Texas Ranchers (7-6, 24pts) in their final match at MLP Daytona Beach.

In women’s doubles, the Shock’s Anna Bright/Kate Fahey jumped out to an 8-3 lead over Etta Tuionetoa/Tina Pisnik of the Ranchers.

Tuionetoa/Pisnik brought the contest all the way to 9-9 before Bright/Fahey went on to close it out 12-10 in one of the best bouts of the weekend.

St. Louis dominated the affair after that opening match, outscoring Texas 33-8 through men’s doubles and both mixed doubles matches to end their Florida campaign on a high note.

 

Bright spoke about the importance of getting that first win to set the tone for the rest of the match.

“I think [Etta and Tina] came out a bit flat and raised their level, and we weren’t really ready for that. We were fortunately able to hang on to the lead that we had built, but it was definitely a really, really high-quality match,” she said. “That win built momentum for us that [Hayden Patriquin and Gabe Tardio] carried on into men’s, and it just kind of snowballed for us into mixed.”

The Shock are now finished in the Sunshine State after going 5-1 through six matches. They fell to the Los Angeles Mad Drops in their first match of the weekend but won the next five in regulation.

They will next be in action at the Edward Jones MLP Mid-Season Tournament, set to run July 9-13.

The Ranchers will look to rebound when they face the SoCal Hard Eights in their final match on Sunday afternoon.